Absence
by DesiringPirates
Summary: It's not the pain that hurts, luv. It's the 'what could have beens'. It's the bloody thoughts and wants in yer head, the need pumping through yer body  and knowing tha' it doesn't do ya a bit of good. Hence, the rum.


Title: Once Every Ten Years

Rated:

Summary: The day after Will leaves.

_It was the day after William left her, for the first time. A ship with black sails, dark as night, captained by a man who went to hell and came back out. It quietly pulled into the harbor, resting it's hull on the beach. Elizabeth watched the crew jump off, carrying tools and crates of things that Elizabeth needed. _

_But Elizabeth refused. _

_The Captain smiled at her, knew what she wanted, even though it took the crew awhile to figure it out. Barbossa's gruff voice boomed out, "She wants ta come!", and Elizabeth laughed as Pintel and Ragetti lifted her up on their shoulders. They paraded her around the small beach for a moment, before carrying her to the ship. _

_All the while choruses of "Long live the King! Long live the Freedom!" rang in her ears, making her feel hot tears at the corners of her eyes. _

_"Gents, we is takin' some time off, put the lass down!" Barbossa ordered, and the Captain nodded in agreement. After the battle, the hellish journey, and the breaking hearts, they all needed a day or two to relax._

_They spent a week. _

_The Captain seemed a bit more comfortable around his murderess, but his eyes still clouded over and showed her nothing whenever he looked at her. On the first day, when Elizabeth was sitting next to the chest, the Captain came up next to her and held out a shovel. _

_She took it, and stuck it in the ground. She had to think on it. She couldn't bury her love just yet. _

_"Ten years is a long time to love something that is gone."_

_"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."_

_"Or the pain more unbearable."_

_"The pain is nothing."_

_"Keep tellin' yerself that, darling." And with his first and parting words of the day, he left her to watch the sunset._

_The second day was no better. Elizabeth stashed the chest behind the rocks where she and her dead husband had laid together, and went off to be with the crew. They welcomed her, treated her as one of their own - because she was one of them. Always had been, despite the corsets and ringlets. _

_Again, that night, she sat next to the thumping heart and watched the sunset. The man who had studiously ignored her all day sat by her side, holding a bottle of rum._

_"Rum's a blessing. Makes people forget what happened."_

_"A nice blow to the head does that too."_

_"Aye, but it's not that fun. All the memories come back."_

_"That happens when you sober up."_

_"Ah, but there is a trick. Ya see, you stay drunk. Then nothing can bother ya."_

_"I could keep hitting you in the head."_

_"Well, that's no fun."_

_"Is for me. I think it would be funny to see you in pain."_

_"It's not the pain that hurts, luv. It's the 'what could have beens'. It's the bloody thoughts and wants in yer head, the need pumping through yer body - and knowing tha' it doesn't do ya a bit of good. Hence, the rum."_

_"But what happens when the rum does not work?"_

_He had stayed silent for a moment, and together they watched the sunset. After the first moment of darkness, the Captain stood up and dropped the bottle._

_"What about your pain reliever?" She asked, holding the bottle up._

_"Ne'er works."_

_"Be prepared for the pain." _

_Meeting her eyes, the Captain answered her. "The pain never went away." He turned around and walked away, but not before adding: "And I hear no laughter from you."_

_The next day the crew had prepared ship, eager to go out and pillage some poor unexpecting merchant vessel coming off the coast of Jamacia. Barbossa said they would sail on the 'morrow's tide, giving them one night more. _

_The day was spent mostly in preperation, but the night belonged to them. They made a bonfire big enough to see from the heavens, passed the bottle around, and sung the old pirate shanty that Elizabeth herself taught the Captain. _

_Elizabeth noticed that the Captain wasn't around to join in the festivities. Lurching up, she wobbled on her feet for a mere moment before setting off down the beach. She found him sitting against the rocks, eyes closed and mouth agape. _

_She moved to go sit next to him, but stopped herself when she heard a moan. Elizabeth quickly stepped out of eye shot, and continued to watch the Captain. His arm moved up and down tirelessly, and when he gave a soft cry, stopped. He took a moment to rest, and reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out a handkerchief. _

_He threw it on the ground a ways away, and fidgeted. Then, sitting with his legs crossed underneath him, began to meditate. _

_"Does that work?"_

_Without opening an eye, he answered. "It doesn't hurt."_

_"Pain, again?"_

_"'S seems to be the only thing owadays."_

_"That's gloomy."_

_"Tha's life."_

_Elizabeth sighed. "Then it's time to change it." Picking up the forgotten shovel, she walked over to the Captain and handed it over. _

_"'S not my job, luv. It's yer burden to bury."_

_"I need help."_

_"We all do, in some way."_

_"Jack."_

_At the sound of his name, he opened his eyes. _

_"I need your help."_

_"I'm not in the mood to save damsels in distress." _

_"It's a good thing your not saving me then; but yourself."_

_He looked up at her, questioning her. _

_"If anything, I have learned that if you want something, don't be afraid to reach out and grab it. If you don't like the way your life is going, change it. With help."_

_Jack processed her words for another moment, before standing up. For a long moment, they simply stared at eachother. Then he grabbed the shovel and walked up near the trees. With a grunt, he pierced the ground with the blade and began to shovel._

_When the hole was big enough, Elizabeth carried the chest over and laid it on the ground. Jack left her for some pirvacy, or solitude of his own._

_Touching the antique stoneware set in the chest, she sighed. "You were always there to protect me. Now it's my turn to protect you." She set it in the ground. _

_Dusting off her hands, she walked back to the shore line and stood next to the Pirate Captain. _

_"Every King needs a Queen."_

_"Then I would have to question your sexuality."_

_"You know what I mean."_

_"'S a good thing that ye have a Queen then."_

_"'Til death do us part.' And death has already parted us."_

_"He's still walkin' around, ye know."_

_"But is he here? Am I there?"_

_Jack nodded, and continued to look at into sea. "Good point." He turned to her and gripped her shoulders. "Why me?"_

_Smiling softly, she gripped his arms. "When you want something, you take it."_

_"What if it's not offered?"_

_"Has that ever stopped us?"_

_It had been months since her proposal, months since they left the beach. Jack had never given her an answer, choosing to teach her how to sail properly. A friendship, at first unsteadily, had grown. Soon there was a small amount of trust there again - especially when all the manacles on the ship were tossed overboard, along with a mutinous pirate._

_One day, Jack had whispered into her ear. "Still think of me as a good man?"_

_Smiling, she answered him. "I think of you as Jack."_

_"And that means?"_

_"That you are Jack. Never change."_

_"You know," he started, changing the subject. "These clothes don't flatter you at all. It's either a dress or nothing."_

_"Then nothing, then." She teased, and walked away to the crew's quarters. Jack smirked as he watched her backside move. _

_It was a week later, and Jack's words still burned in her ear, among other places. Elizabeth could not stand the pain anymore, and scurried down to the hold to search through the chests of loot. Opening one, she found a night dress._

_Either a dress or nothing. _

_Jack never noticed her slipping into his cabin when he was at the wheel. She stripped her clothes and slipped into the white nightgown, and admired the smoothness of the fabric. _

_When he entered, an hour later, she was sitting on a chair and smirking at him._

_"A dress, then?"_

_She smiled. _

_"And to what do I owe the honor of this late night visit?"_

_She continued to smile at him. "I trust you."_

_"Trust me with what?"_

_"Anything, and everything."_

_"That's a lot of trust in a simple pirate."_

_"Jack, you are anything but simple." Elizabeth uncrossed her legs and leaned forward a little. "If you don't want me, I'll leave." She stated simply, and got up._

_After a few steps, Jack stopped her and pushed her gently back into the chair. He kneeled in front of her, and began playing with her hair. Her hands moved up and down his back, pulling him closer._

_"I lied."_

_"What else is new? What did you lie about this time?" She smiled, still staring into his dark eyes._

_"I lied. Once was never enough." And this time, he kissed her. _

_It was soft, gentle, and Elizabeth was surprised by how much emotion was held behind it. Their kiss soon gave away to a more pressing matter. Jack moaned against her lips, and began moving his trail of kisses down her neck. Elizabeth gasped and meweled, and allowed Jack to push her legs apart. _

_Elizabeth sunk down in the chair some, and Jack messed around with her skirt. Soon, it was up around her stomach. He placed teasing kisses along her thighs, around her curls, and played with her right where she needed him most. Her senses were on high alert, and she heard him move his belt and effects away. Then he moved up over her, placing his hips against hers, and with another breath - stealing kiss, entered her slowly. _

_Elizabeth moaned out his name, and clutched onto his shoulders. Jack took a moment to savour being in her for the first time, and pushed a little further in. _

_It was quick, and intense, as Jack slid them - both connected - down onto the floor and continued to move. Soon they were laying on the cabin's wooden floor, spent, and smiling._

Elizabeth stared out over the ocean, her hands on her protruding belly, and sighed. It had been seven months since that night - their only night together, and Elizabeth decided to hop ship and stay on her little island of Shipwreck Cove. She had a feeling that she should, and she was right - weeks after leaving Jack, she found out she was pregnant.

Jack had been upset, and cursed her out for being a 'coward'- for not burying her burdens, just masking them. Elizabeth tried to calmly explain that she thought it was time to leave, to grow on her own for awhile.

When it was time to leave, Jack didn't say goodbye.

Now she sat on the beach, round around the middle and in seemingly constant discomfort, waiting for the day for him to return. Because he will - their fate, no matter how many times in the past she tried to deny it, was always tied together. They could be apart for awhile, but they always seem to be thrusted together. Elizabeth had faith that her Jack would return.

Two months later, Elizabeth sat in a private room, screaming and writhing in pain as she gave birth. Captain Teague, who turned out to be a midwife of some sort, had delivered his youngest grandson. Elizabeth wept with happiness, holding her child and promising it the world.

For five months, it was only the two of them. Teague had disappeared, as he normally did every once in awhile. Elizabeth took care of her son, which she named James, and watched as he was christened the next 'heir' to the throne... Elizabeth later laughed in her quarters - except for that one time, there was never any need for a 'Pirate King'.

One day, when Elizabeth was nursing James, there were loud footsteps running up the stairs to her room, and pretty soon the door swung open.

Jack stood there, breathing heavily, and stared at Elizabeth... and his son. A warm smile lit up his face, and he walked over to them, kneeling on the floor next to the chair. Very carefully, as if afraid he might hurt the babe, he cupped the small head. He was in awe.

"He is beautiful."

Elizabeth smiled. "He looks like you."

"I didn't believe my father, the first time he found me. Then he handed me a small blanket, with my son's name on it, and I hurried over." There was a strange moistness in his eyes. "So this is why you left me?"

Elizabeth nodded. "I told you, I had a feeling that I should stay."

Jack smiled, not taking his eyes off his son. James had his eyes closed, his fingers tangled in his mother's hair, suckling on his mother's breast. This, in his opinion, was one of the most beautiful sights that Jack had ever seen.

"Give me my son." Jack calmly ordered, and very carefully and awkwardly, Elizabeth set young James in his father's arms. The baby fussed for a second, but calmed down and cuddled up in his father's arms. His eyes opened, revealing warm honey brown eyes. "He has your eyes."

"That's the only thing of me he has. If I didn't give birth to him, I might not be sure if I was his mother."

The baby made a soft crying noise, and Jack looked at Elizabeth in bewilderment.

"Rock him a bit."

Jack began rocking his arms lightly, pacing around the room with him. Soon the babe calmed down again, and burped. Jack laughed. He continued to walk his son around, lulling James to a soft slumber.

Elizabeth just sat back and watched, a smile on her face, as father and son met. She knew that James would know his father. Knew that from now on, whether together or apart, they would always be a little family.

THE END


End file.
